Means for supporting and printing on ticket strip material

ABSTRACT

Printing machine for printing tickets, for example, in particular for prepayment installations providing automatic distribution of transportation tickets of the type in which a large number of pre-displayable indications are to be printed on the ticket and includes a series of fixed printing plates having modifiable signs or characters, at least one support bracket having a flat face for carrying the sheet to be printed, means whereby one point of the flat face is caused to follow a path having a shape closely related to that of a closed hypocycloid having a number of cusps, flat printing plates tangent to the circle which is circumscribed about the path being disposed at least at a number of cusps of the path and, means for ensuring that the flat face of the support bracket is also tangent to the circle which is circumscribed about the cusps.

United States Patent [191 Jullien-Davin 1451 Sept. 18, 1973 MEANS FOR SUPPORTING AND PRINTING ON TICKET STRIP MATERIAL [75] Invent or: Jean Jullien D avin, Valence,

France [73] Assignee: Crouzet, Paris, France 221' Filed? Mar. 30', 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 129,457

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data April3, 1970 France....; ..70l2290 52 us. Cl. 101/66 [51] Int. .Cl. B411 45/02 [58] Field of Search 101/66, 67, 68, 69, Nil/70,109,110, 99, 95, 98,101

[56] 1 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,601,283 6/1952 Helsel 101/70 2,604,846 7/1952 Ahlstrand et al. 101/69 Barberis l01/66 X lnnocenti 101/66 X [57] ABSTRACT Printing machine for printing tickets, for example, in particular for prepayment installations providing automatic distribution of transportation tickets of the type in which a large number of pre-displayable indications are to be printed on the ticket and includes a series of fixed printing plates having modifiable signs or characters, at least one support bracket having a flat face for carrying the sheet to be printed, means whereby one point of the flat face is caused to follow a path having a shape closely related to that of a closed hypocycloid having a number of cusps, flatprinting-platestangent to the circle which is circumscribed about the path being disposed at least at a number of cusps of the path and, means for ensuring that the flat face of the support bracket is also tangent to the circle which is circumscribed about the cusps.

Claims, 14 martinis??? PATENTEU SEPI 8 I975 SHEET 1 [IF 7 PATENTED SEP] 8 I973 SHEET I 2 [IF 7 PATENTED 1 81915 3. 759 173 v SHEET 5 OF 7 Pmiminsirw fl 3.759.173

sum 7 OF 7 FIGJIS- MEANS FOR SUPPORTING AND PRINTING ON TICKET STRIP MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a printing machine, for example for printing tickets, with the machine being primarily intended for use in installations for the automatic distribution of tickets in which the user himself selects certain variable items of information to be printed by pressing the corresponding control knobs of a prepayment device while other invariable items of information can be either preprinted on the paper-board strip or indicated once andfor all by the machine and further variable items of information can be kept up to date automatically by the machine.

For example, if it is necessary to print a public transportation ticket the departure station will be permanently displayedi the type of ticket (single, return, day-return, weekend return, child single, child return, child day-return, child weekend return, weekly ticket and so forth), the class, the destination station will be selected by the user the distance and the price, the statement no interruption of journey" or non-transferable ticket (the users signature being required on the reverse side of the ticket) will be selected automatically by the prepayment device as a function of the other elements which are selected by the user.

updating of the daily calender and weekly calender will be carried out automatically by known means either from a clock or manually by an agent of the Company, the selection by the user being made only in order to determine whether the date is to be printed in one form or in another according as the tickets required are either single or weekly tickets.

finally, the serial number. of the ticket is printed by means of a device which advances automatically by one unit each time a ticket has been issued.

PRIOR ART I In the design solutions adopted up to the present time, the initial operation consists in composing a printing plate which comprises all the elements to be printed, whereupon the movable plate is applied against the paper-board or, on the contrary, the movable board is applied against the plate by means of a press which operates in the vicinity of the dead point,

' which is an excellent mode of procedure since the pressure is of a high order but is applied smoothly and without shocks.

In other designs, the printing plate is composed on the lateral surface of a drum which is then applied against the paper-board by rolling.

All the solutions of the prior art have a disadvantage in that they entail delicate and complex transmission components for indicating the selected data on the plate which is movable either in a translational motion (the number of transmission shafts corresponds to the number of data to be selected) or in a rotational motion (the number of tubular shafts which are concentric with the axis of the drum being equivalent to the number of data to be displayed) and further entail-the need to disengage each transmission unit at the moment of rotation of the drum or to provide for a differential compensation on each transmission unit in order that the rotation of the drum at the moment of printing should not influence the values, which rapidly becomes impossible to achieve in practice if the number of data to be displayed is substantial.

A further disadvantage lies in the need to have a ticket of sufficiently large size to permit the possibility of setting the movable display elements on the plate (two lines whose characters are presented on rotary drums are necessarily spaced at a distance which is at least equal to the diameter of the drums).

Yet another disadvantage of the earlier systems lies in the fact that the miniaturization which is imposed on selectionable printing elements is scarcely compatible with the fairly high pressures which are necessary for correct printing.

In order to illustrate this state of the prior art, the following patents can be cited French patent No. 1,327,219 describes a franking machine based on the principle of the rotary drum in which, in order to avoid .the use of a single drum having a large diameter which is made cumbersome by the mechanism required for making changes in the data to be printed and which is incompatible with a high speed, there are accordingly employed a number of synchronized drums beneath which the ticket passes and each drum prints one element, namely price of stamp, date, advertisement and the like, but a machine of this type can only be contemplated for one impression which is repeated a large number of times without changing the data.

French patent No. 1,474,550 describes a machine for printing railway tickets, this machine being specially designed to be operated automatically by an automatic distribution installation of the prepayment type in which printing plates corresponding to all the tickets whichare liable to be required are stored on a system of multiple prismatic drums with, the selection by the user being intended to have the effect of bringing the selected plate into position as a result of rotation of the drums.

A first disadvantage of this solution is that a fairly large number of plates have to be kept in stock. For example, if there are only four kinds of tickets (first class, first class return, second class, second class return) and 24 stations to be served, 96 printing plates are accordingly required. This rapidly becomes very cumbersome when the number of types of tickets (weekly tickets, reduced fares and the like) and the number of stations increases so that the drum which carries the entire stock of printing plates rapidly attains a substantial size and weight, thereby resulting in an inertia which is incompatible with rapid selection. It must be pointed out that tickets which are intended for a destination station differ only in-the indication of the type and the price and that the only difference between tickets of the same type which are intended for different stations lies in the name of the destination station, the distance and the price.

A second disadvatnage is tha fact that the machines which are installed in each station are not identical and interchangeable and must also have a stock of different plates. In the example considered, namely four types and 20 stations, this results in 1,920 different plates having to be provided. However, it should be noted that the tickets of the same type which are intended for the same destination station but originate from different departure stations differ only in the name of the departure station, the distance and the price.

manner, said second support bracket being angularly displaced by one pitch of trajectory and in advance with respect to said first support bracket and, said second support bracket being adapted to carry an inking pad which follows the same path as the sheet to be printed.

In a preferred embodiment, the two support brackets are connected to each other by means of a hinge which is parallel to the shaft of the disc and located at a point which defines the apex of an isosceles triangle whose base is defined by the variable distance of the two crank-pins which carry the two support brackets.

So far as concerns the fixed printing plates, those plates which do not contain invariable data will not be described further while those which contain variable data will be of a number of different types according to the nature of said data.

For example, for the purpose of permanent display of the name of the departure station, the printing plate will comprise a character support component (a polygonal disc comprising a number of faces corresponding to the number of names and having a shaft located at right angles to the shaft of the driving disc or a cylindrical drum, the names being engraved parallel to the generator-lines of said drum whose shaft is parallel to the shaft of the driving disc) which will be keyed either manually by an agent at the moment of installation or when opening the cover of the apparatus or by means of a control button to which the user does not have access.

In order to display the elements which result from the selection but the wording of which is defined beforehand such as name of the destination station, type of ticket (return, single, first class, second class and so forth), it will be possible to employ identical character support components (discs or drums) associated with a brush which travels along a printed circuit comprising successive contact-studs. Said character support components will each be driven by a motor, the supply circuit of which is intended to pass through the brush and the printed circuit. The motor will stop when the brush reaches a contact-stud of the printed circuit which has been selectively cut out of circuit.

In order to display the elements which are a function of the selection but processed by a computer (price, distance), it will be possible to employ in known manner a wheel counter actuated by a servo-motor'and associated with a coder, the indication of which will be compared in an electronic comparator with the result of the computer (known conventional method).

Finally, the serial number will be displayed by means of a counter provided with a movable component with elastic return and comprising a driving pawl for causing the counter to advance by one unit at each elastic return. The movable component is placed in such a manner that it is not influenced by the support bracket which carries the inking pad but on the contrary will be moved downwards by the ticket support bracket prior to printing and subsequently return so as to cause the counter to advance when the ticket support bracket,

movesaway from the plate after printing. The counter is then in readiness for the following ticket.

It should be pointed out at this stage that all other known'control means for transmitting the results of the selection to the movableelements of the printing plates could be employed without thereby departing from the scope of this invention.

A better understanding of the invention will be gained from the following description which is given by way of non-limitative example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a diagram which illustrates the principle of the invention FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the device according to the invention in a first embodiment FIG. 3 is a plan view of the device according to the invention in another preferred embodiment FIG. 4 is a view in sectional elevation along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3

FIG. 5 illustrates a fixed printing plate which carries only invariable data and shows the device for carrying out the plate-centering operation FIG. 6 shows the complete device which permits stopping in the rest position and re-starting FIG. 7 shows an enlarged detail of the guillotine FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 3 and showing in detail the rollers for transferring the printed ticket FIG. 9 shows the assembly of the cover of the inking pad with an ink reservoir FIG. 10 shows the cover of FIG. 9 which is withdrawn at the time of passage of the ticket support bracket FIG. 11 shows the stationary printing plate comprising elements for printing the name of the departure station FIG. 12 shows a printing plate for printing the price FIG. 13 shows the plate for printing the serial number of the ticket and FIG. 14 shows diagrammatically the plate for printing the name of the departure station and the control means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference is first made to FIG. 1 which illustrates the invention diagrammatically.

The curve H which resembles a closed hypocycloid has cusps R which are located on the circle C. Printing plates I which are tangent to the circle C are located at least at a certain number of said cusps. The support S for the sheet to be printed has a flat face P which carries the sheet and a point p of the face P describes the curve I-l.

When the support S reaches the cusps R, the face P of said support is also tangent to the circle C and therefore parallel to the printing plate I. There is thus obtained an impression of the sheet to be printed by each of the plates I in succession.

There is shown in FIG. 2 a simple device for obtaining the movement which is provided by the invention. A crank-pin M is caused to follow a curve H having cusps such as, for example, a hypocycloid. There will be shown hereinafter a simplearrangement for imparting a movement of this type to a crank-pin. The support S is pivotally attached to a guide member 0 by means of a rod T which permits the assembly consisting of support 8 and rod T to move within the guide member 0. Said guide member 0 is mounted so as to be capable of rotation about center 0 of the circle C which is circumscribed about the curve H. When the crank-pin M describes the curve H, the point p describes a curve H which resembles a hypocycloid. Particularly at the cusps R, the surface P will be tangent to the circle C.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 3 to 14.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate diagrammatically a ticketprinting machine comprising a flat frame 1 on which are fixed a shaft 2 and a cylindrical member 3 having an internal set of teeth 30 which is concentric with the shaft 2.

A disc 4 is mounted on the shaft 2 by means of ballbearings and fitted with a toothed wheel 5 so as to be driven by a pinion 6 which is keyed on output shaft 70 of an electrically operated clutch-coupling and braking unit of known type which is generally designated by the reference numeral 7, input shaft 7b of said unit being driven in rotation by a reduction-gear motor which is not illustrated in the figure. It need only be mentioned that, when voltage is applied to terminals 70 and 7d, the shafts 7a and 7b are coupled and when no voltage is developed across said terminals, the shaft 7a is braked. The disc 4 carries two identical pinions 8 and 9, shafts 8a and 9a of which are mounted on ball-bearings, said pinions being disposed in meshing engagement with the teeth 3a. The number of teeth 3a of the member 3 is a whole multiple of the number of teeth of the pinions 8 and 9. Thus, when the disc 4 performs a complete revolution starting from its rest position and returns to said position, each pinion 8 and 9 has performed with respect to the disc a whole number of revolutions and returns to the same rest position.

The pinion 8 carries an eccentric shaft or crank-pin 8b, the geometrical axis of which conincides in the rest position with the the of contact of th pitch circle of the pinion 8 with the pitch circumference of the teeth 3a. When the disc 4 performs a complete revolution in the clockwise direction, the crank-pin 8b follows an epicycloidal path, the first loop E8 of which is shown in FIG. 3.

Similarly, the pinion 9 carries a crank-pin 9b which, in the rest position, is located at the point of contact of the pitch circle of the pinion 9 with the pitch circle of the member 3 and follows another identical path, the first loop of which is shown at B9.

A ticket support bracket 10 is mounted by means of ball-bearings on the crank-pin 8b of the pinion 8 and has a flat surface 10a for receiving the ticket to be printed, a guide 10b being provided on each side of said surface for the purpose of holding the ticket in position.

A support bracket 11 is mounted by means of ballbearings on the pinion 9 and has a flat surface 11a which is fitted with an inking pad 12 of a well known type.

In the rest position as well as at each cusp of the paths E8, E9 which occur simultaneously, the flat surfaces 10a and 11a are disposed at right angles to a radius of the disc 4.

The support brackets 10 and I1 carry yokes 10c and 11b which are traversed by a pin 13 so as to form a hinge the pin 13 constitutes the apex of an isosceles triangle whose base is constituted by the variable distance of the crank-pins 8b, 9b with, the two support brackets 10, 11 being thus oriented with all the rigidity which is necessary.

When the disc 4 performs a complete revolution, the assembly 10-11 describes a curve which is closely related to an epicycloid as represented approximately at E10 and having a number of cusps. With the exception of the first two cusps, there is placed at each cusp a printing plate 14 which is secured by means ofa central stud 14a and a nut against a right-angled support bracket 15 (FIG. 5) with an interposed shoe 16. The shoe has two elongated slots 16b in cooperating relation with two nipples 14b of the plate serve to form an approximate vertical guide. The shoe also has two elongated slots 16a in cooperating relation with two nipples 15a of the right-angled bracket 15 and projecting from both faces of the vertical portion of the bracket which can consequently be mounted in one direction or in the other depending on the thickness of the plate 14 and accordingly serve to form an approximate horizontal guide.

The stud 14a traverses the shoe 16 and the rightangled bracket 15 through holes which are much larger than the diameter of said stud by slackening off the single nut, this makes it possible to adjust the centering of the plate both horizontally and vertically.

The right-angled bracket 15 is attached to the frame 1 by means of two screws which are engaged in internally-threaded bores 15b and traverse the frame 1 through elongated slots 1a which are disposed in pairs parallel to a radius, thus permitting radial positional adjustment of the printing plate. It is clear that, during one cycle, each plate will first be in contact with the inking pad 12 in order to be coated with ink and then with the ticket to be printed which is supported by the bracket 10.

The two first cusps of the path E10 are not provided with printing plates. The first cusp corresponds to the rest position of the ticket support bracket 10, there being located opposite to this position the final elements of the series of means which are adapted to discharge the printed ticket and to supply the support bracket 10 with an unprinted ticket. All these means will be described hereinafter.

The second cusp corresponds to the rest position of the support bracket 11 and of the inking pad 12 a cover 17 is secured to the frame within which the pad 12 is positioned when the machine is at rest in order to be protected against dust and to prevent evaporation of the ink. Said stationary cover is larger than the support bracket 10 in order not to hinder the transfer of the support bracket 10 at the outset. Means are provided for ensuring that stopping in the rest condition takes place in a precise position which makes it possible to discharge the printed ticket and to replace this latter with an unprinted ticket. These means are shown diagrammatically in FIG. 6. The disc 4 is provided at its periphery with an upwardly sloping flank 4a, a recess 41:, and a downwardly sloping flank 4c.

The recess 4b is closed by a shutter 18 which is pivotally mounted on a pin 4d and returned elastically by means of a spring 19 against a stop 4e, said shutter being provided with a downwardly-inclined ramp 18a and this latter is substantially joined with the flank 4c. A locking-bolt 20 is adapted to slide in guides lb which are rigidly fixed to the frame 1 and carries a roller 21 which is continuously applied against the periphery of the disc 4 by means of a spring 22. At the end of the cycle, the roller 21 will run up the flank 4a, thereby causing the locking-bolt 20 to withdraw in opposition to the action of the spring 22, thus constituting a loss of energy for the disc 4. The roller 21 then causes the shutter 18 to retract and falls suddenly into the recess 4b under the action of the spring 22, thereby locking the disc 4 in a precise position of rest. At the same time,

by virtue of an arm a fitted with an insulator 23, the locking-bolt opens contact 24 which breaks the supply circuit of the clutch unit 7 (shown in FIG. 4). At the same time, by means of an arm 20!) fitted with a pawl 25 which is engaged with a tooth 26a ofa ratchet-wheel 26, the falling motion of the locking-bolt 20 causes the ratchet-wheel 26 to advance by one step together with an insulating cam 27 which is integral with said ratchetwheel this one-step advance of the cam 27 results in brief closure of the contact 28, the design function of which will be explained hereinafter.

In order to resume operation for one cycle, a current pulse of short duration which is produced in a coil 29 has the effect of attracting a sliding armature 200 which is rigidly fixed to the locking-bolt 20 (alternatively, a tractive effort can be applied by hand on the handle which is shown in chain-dotted lines in the figure), thereby causing the withdrawal of the lockingbolt 20 the contact 24 is closed, the clutch unit 7 (shown in FIG. 4) is actuated, the shutter 18 returns to the position in which it closes off the recess 4b, whereupon the locking-bolt returns under the action of the spring 22 and the'roller 21 assists the starting operation by means of the ramp 18a followed by the flank 40.

As will be readily understood, any combination which is equivalent to the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 4, and in particular the combination in which the falling motion of the locking-bolt 20 within the recess 4b may be employed to produce a direct controlling action on a mechanically operated clutchunit instead of an electric clutch unit, must accordingly be considered as forming part of the invention.

Referring again to FIGS. 3 and 4, it is seen that a machine is completed by means for cutting the continuous strip 30 of paper-board which is delivered from a roll (not shown) to a cutting machine or so-called guillotine comprising a fixed jaw 31 and a movable blade 32 which is operated in the active direction by means of two springs 33, only one of which is visible and which are inclined with rspect to the plane of the blade in order to ensure that the blade is in contact with upright members 31a which are rigidly fixed to the stationary jaw 31 (see also FIG. 7). Said blade 32 is reset after cutting the strip by means of two cables 34, a rockingarm 35, a cable 36 attached to a lever 37 and, said lever is pivotally connected to a bracket 38 which is attached to the shaft 2. The lever 37 is fitted with a roller follower 37a in cooperating relation with a cam 39 having an internal profile and rigidly fixed to the disc 4.

At the beginning of the cycle, when a fall-off portion 390 of the cam 39 is presented to the roller follower 37a, the blade 32 is free to move suddenly under the action of the springs 32 so as to cut the paper-board and is then reset during the remainder of the cycle by virtue of action of the slow rise 39!; of the cam 39.

Means are provided to ensure that, after each cycle, the paper-board is advanced over the desired distance, the printed ticket is discharged and the unprinted ticket is placed in position. These means consist of upstream of the guillotine 31-32 a first transfer system comprising a driving roller 40 and a free-motion counter-roller 41 between which the paper-board strip 30 is clamped elastically downstream of the guillotine 31-32 a second identical transfer system comprising a driving roller 42 and a free-motion counter-roller 43 between which will be held the stand-by section of strip constituting the unprinted ticket when the guillotine 31-32 will have come into operation at the beginning of the cycle.

A third and a fourth transfer system comprising the driving rollers 44 and 46 together with the corresponding free-motion counter-rollers 45 and 47 respectively which are mounted on the ticket support bracket and are intended to discharge the printed ticket and to place in position the fresh unprinted ticket. The driving rollers 44, 46 are mounted in a frame 48 which oscillates on a hollow shaft 49a, said shaft being rigidly fixed to one arm of lever 49 and this latter is pivotally mounted on a pin 50 which is attached to the frame. The lever 49 has a second arm 4% which is fitted with an elastic means, namely a blade spring 51. A guide pin or catch 52 which is rigidly fixed to the inking pad comes up against a strip 51 when the support bracket 11 reaches its rest position, thereby causing the lever 49 to pivot in opposition to the action of a restoring spring 53 in order to ensure that the rollers 44, 46 are applied elastically under pressure against the counterrollers 45 and 47. The function of the device which has just been described is to separate the driving rollers 44 and 46 as long as the rest position has not been reached in order to prevent these latter from being coated with ink as they move past the inking pad.

The rollers 44, 46, 45, 47 are constituted by cheeks joined to each other by a shaft in order to grip only the edges of the ticket which are located beneath the guides 10b with, said guides being interrupted at the level of the rollers 44 and 46. FIG. 8 shows a partial cross-section along the axes of the rollers 46 and 47.

The rollers 44 and 46 are actuated by gears 44a, 46a which are keyed on their shafts and engage with a pinion 54 which is keyed on a shaft 55. Said shaft 55 is coaxial with the hollow shaft 49a on which is keyed a notched pulley 56 and, a notched belt 57 is passed over said pulley. The notched belt 57 is driven by a notched pulley 58 and this latter is keyed on a shaft 59 which carries a pinion 60 for operating the driving rollers 40,

42 by means of toothed wheels which are rigidly fixed thereto.

The toothed wheel 60 is connected by means of an intermediate wheel 61 to a toothed wheel 62 which is keyed on the shaft 630 of a reduction-gear motor 63. A cam 61 is also keyed on the shaft 63a and controls a self-maintaining contact 65 which serves to supply the motor 63 for one complete revolution. Start-up for one complete revolution is initiated at the end of a cycle by the brief closure of the contact 28 (see FIG. 6).

The rollers 40 and 42 have a diameter such that, in one complete revolution, they cause the strip 30 to advance over a distance corrsponding to the exact length of the ticket.

The rollers 44 and 46 have a slightly larger diameter in order to ensure that the ticket. which is placed in position as a result of one complete revolution is moved away from the extremity 30a of the strip 30 and to ensure that said extremity 30a is not liable to engage in the guides 10b before the proper time the same result can be obtained with rollers having the same diameter and driven with a transmission ratio which is higher than l:l.

FIG. 9 shows diagrammatically an advantageous alternative embodiment in which the support bracket 11 presents the inking pad 12 in the rest position against an auxiliary pad 65 which regenerates the pad 12 during the period of rest. The auxiliary pad 65 is in contact with the widened portion of an upward wick 66 which is contained in a flexible tube 67 and the lower extremity of which dips in an ink reservoir 68. A foot l7a is slidably mounted on two rods 69 while two springs 69' ensure that the pads 12 and 65 are applied against each other under pressure.

FIG. shows that, when the ticket support bracket 10 is in turn presented in front of the cover 17', said cover is too small to receive said bracket and withdraws over a distance R by sliding along the rods 69.

FIG. 11 shows, by way of example, a fixed printing plate 141 which is mounted on a right-angled bracket with a shoe l6. Said plate is formed of a casing 70 and a cover 71 and, a drum 72 is placed in a slightly projecting position in a window 710 of said cover in order to display the departure station. The display is made once and for all by an agent who depresses a manual control button 73 provision is made within the drum 72 for a bore 72a which is parallel to its axis and contains a spring 74 and a positioning stud 75 which is intended to cooperate with holes 70a.

The cover 71 carries a fixed character F (francs) 71b, an abbreviation Km (kilometer) 71c and a lightly striated zone 71d which is to be printed on the ticket.

FIG. 12 is a front view of another fixed printing plate 142 in which a counter 76 projects from the surface to a small extent in order to print the price which is determined by the prepayment device, said price being overprinted on the ticket opposite to the initial F (francs) on the striated portion which has been printed by the elements 71b and 71d of the plate 141. The counter 76 is controlled by a reduction-gear servo-motor 77 and controlled by a coder 78, the electric outputs of which are connected to an electronic comparator in the prepayment device said device for recopying a numerical value and comprising a counter, a motor and a coder is well known to those versed in the art and therefore calls for no extended description.

Another fixed printing plate which is not illustrated is almost identical and also comprises a counter, a motor and a coder in order to print the distance on the striated zone of the ticket opposite to the abbreviation Km (kilometer).

A further plate 144 which is shown in the top view of FIG. 13 has a counter 79 which projects from the printing face in order to print the serial number of the ticket. There is mounted on the shaft of the counter 79 a ratchet-wheel 80 having six teeth in cooperating relation with a retaining pawl 81 and with a driving pawl 82 carried by a lever 83 which is provided with a heel 83a. Said heel forms a projection in the forward direction and is returned by a spring 84 against a stop 85.

At the moment of printing, the edge of the ticket support bracket 10 depresses the heel 83a, withdraws the lever 83 in oppositionto the action of the spring 84 and the pawl 82 thrusts back one tooth of the ratchet-wheel 80. After printing, the support bracket 10 withdraws under the actionof the spring 84, the lever 83 returns the pawl 82 against the stop 85 and advances the counter 79 by one unit.

Another fixed printing plate 145 shown in FIG. 14 comprises a movable drum 721 which is simular to the drum 72 in order to print the name of the destinaion station. The shaft 721a of the drum which is driven by a reduction-gear motor carries a brush 86 which passes over a series of concentrically disposed contact-studs 87 of a printed circuit 88. The contact-studs 87 are connected to normally closed contacts which serve to supply the motor through the brush 86. The selection of a name of station to be displayed consists in opening the corresponding contact. The motor stops when the brush is located on the contact-stud which is not supplied with current.

Different printing plates have been described in order to provide a clear illustration of the universal character of the printing machine in accordance with the invention which can readily be adapted for all particular uses. Accordingly, in order to ensure that one type of ticket such as a return ticket is clearly differentiated, one conceivable expedient would consist in providing a printing plate with a diagonal strip on which are marked a large number of small and closely spaced dots.

The operation will now be summarized in brief outline 1. During one cycle, a ticket is undergoing printing in the support bracket.

2. The strip is held by the first transfer system which is stopped and has already been cut to the desired length at the level ,of the guillotine and the unprinted ticket for the following cycle is held in the second transfer system which is also stopped.

3. At the end of the cycle, the ticket support bracket comes into the rest position, the movable arm which is controlled by a boss of the pad support bracket which has also come to the rest position applies the driving rollers of the third and fourth transfer system against the printed ticket.

4. The combined assembly of the transfer systems is set into rotation, thereby having the effect a. of ejecting the printed ticket by means of the fourth transfer system b. of advancing the prepared unprinted ticket by means of the second system until said ticket is taken by the third transfer system c. of advancing by means of the first system the strip whose extremity is taken by the second system d. as soon as the rollers have performed a complete revolution, the fresh unprinted ticket which as advanced with respect to the strip since the driving rollers of the third and fourth systems are slightly larger than those of the first and second systems is in a good printing position as soon as the printing cycle has begun, a cam which is rigidly fixed to the driving disc initiates the action of the guillotine as a result of a sudden fall and said guillotine cuts the strip under the action of springs a new unprinted ticket is thus held in a stand-by position by the second roller transfer system. Throughout the duration of the printing cycle, the cam resets the guillotine in opposition to the action of the springs.

The cycle is ready to start again.

Although the invention has been described in connection with particular embodiments, it is readily understood that these latter do not constitute any limitation and that any number of different modifications could be made without departing either from the scope or the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A machine for printing tickets and more particularly for use in prepayment installations providing an automatic distribution of transportation tickets of the type in which a large number of pre-displayable indications are to be printed on the ticket, comprising a series of fixed printing plates having signs or characters, at leaset one support bracket having a flat face for carrying a sheet to be printed, said flat face having one pont thereon, means operably related to said at least one support bracket, for moving said bracket and causing the one point on flat face to follow a path having a configuration substantially corresponding to the configuration of a closed hypocycloid having a number of cusps, flat printing plates tangent to the circle circumscribed about the path and being positioned at at least a number of cusps of the path, and further means operably related to said at least one support bracket for locating the flat face thereof tangent to the circle circumscribed about the cusps.

2. The printing machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the means operable related to said at least one support bracket includes a stationary ring having internal teeth, a stationary pin at the center of. the ring, a disc rotatable about the pin,'an eccentric shaft rigidly fixed to the disc and being perpendicular to its plane, a planetary pinion mounted on the eccentric shaft and in meshing engagement with the ring, an eccentric crank-pin carried by the planetary pinion and being perpendicular to the plane of the disc, said at least one support bracket being pivotally mounted on the crank pin with the plane of the sheet being parallel to the crank pin, and means guiding said at least one support bracket during rotation of the disc.

3. The printing machine as claimed in claim 2 in which the means for guiding said at least one support bracket during rotation of the disc, includes a slide arm, said slide arm having pivotal movement on the disc shaft due to rotation of the crank-pin, the crankpin being movable within the interior of the arm, the slide arm being positioned to guide said at least one support bracket so that the one point of the flat face of the bracket, the axis of the crank-pin and the disc shaft are maintained in permanently aligned relation.

4. The printing machine as claimed in claim 2 including a second support bracket similar to said at least one support bracket and caused to follow the same path as said at least one support bracket, said second support bracket being angularly displaced by one pitch of trajectory and in advance of said at least one support bracket, and an inking pad carried by the flat face of the second support bracket, with the inking pad following the same path as the sheet carried by the flat face of said at least one support bracket.

5. The printing machine as claimed in claim 4 including a hinge connecting said at least one support bracket and second support bracket together, the hinge being parallel to the disc shaft and located at a point defining the apex of an isosceles triangle, the base of which is defined by the variable distance of the two crank-pins carrying said support brackets.

6. The printing machine as claimed in claim 4 including means operable, starting from the rest position, to return said at least one support bracket and second support bracket precisely to the same position at the end of one complete cycle, said returning means comprising an elastically restorable movable locking bolt, said disc having a hub provided with a notch having an angular position corresponding to the rest position of the disc, the bolt being cooperable with the notch, and the movable locking bolt being provided with means initiating the operation and an end of cycle signal.

7. The printing machine as claimed in claim 4 including means operable, in a rest position of said at least one support bracket, to eject a printed ticket and position an unprinted ticket, said means comprising a first device consisting of a driving roller and a free counter roller for transferring and holding a continuous strip of paper, a second device consisting of a driving roller and a free counter roller for transferring and holding in a standby position a section of the strip, cutting means located between the first and second devices for detaching the strip section held in the standby position, and third and fourth driving rollers associated with third and fourth free rollers carried by said at least one support bracket to drive concurrently the printed ticket for its ejection and unprinted ticket for its positioning.

8. The printing machine as claimed in claim 7 in which the cutting means includes a guillotine having movable and fixed blades, resilient means urging the movable blade toward the fixed blade, and a cam rigidly fixed to the disc and operably related to the movable blade moving the movable blade away from the fixed blade.

9. The printing machine as caimed in claim 4 including a stationary cover for the inking pad in the rest position to protect the pad from contamination.

10. The printing machine as claimed in claim 9 including an auxiliary pad in the stationary cover, resilient means biasing the auxiliary pad into contact with the inking pad, an ink reservoir, and a wick immersed in the ink reservoir and leading to the auxiliary pad to maintain the auxiliary pad impregnated with ink for transfer to the inking pad.

i I I t t United States Patent 1191 Quirijnen [75] Inventor: Marius Quirljnen, Rijswijk,

Netherlands [73] Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation, New York,

[22] Filed: May 21, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 145,692

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 4, 1970 Netherlands 7008102 [52] 11.8. CL... 101/93 C 5111 1 11.011 1141 9/02 [58] Field of Search; 101/93 C, 111, 110

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,128,694 4/1904 Kittler 101/93 C L I I I I I I I I I Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-E. M. Coven Attorney-Frank R. Trifari [57] ABSTRACT A printing device comprising a type support and one or more hammers cooperating therewith. Each hammer has an impact beam which is arranged so that it strikes the face of the type support at an angle in such manner that the reaction force exerted on the impact beam during a stroke of the impact beam against said face has a component, in addition to a component in the direction of the impact beam equal to the frictional force exerted on the impact beam.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 

1. A machine for printing tickets and more particularly for use in prepayment installations providing an automatic distribution of transportation tickets of the type in which a large number of pre-displayable indications are to be printed on the ticket, comprising a series of fixed printing plates having signs or characters, at leaset one support bracket having a flat face for carrying a sheet to be printed, said flat face having one pont thereon, means operably related to said at least one support bracket, for moving said bracket and causing the one point on flat face to follow a path having a configuration substantially corresponding to the configuration of a closed hypocycloid having a number of cusps, flat printing plates tangent to the circle circumscribed about the path and being positioned at at least a number of cusps of the path, and further means operably related to said at least one support bracket for locating the flat face thereof tangent to the circle circumscribed about the cusps.
 2. The printing machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the means operable related to said at least one support bracket includes a stationary ring having internal teeth, a stationary pIn at the center of the ring, a disc rotatable about the pin, an eccentric shaft rigidly fixed to the disc and being perpendicular to its plane, a planetary pinion mounted on the eccentric shaft and in meshing engagement with the ring, an eccentric crank-pin carried by the planetary pinion and being perpendicular to the plane of the disc, said at least one support bracket being pivotally mounted on the crank pin with the plane of the sheet being parallel to the crank pin, and means guiding said at least one support bracket during rotation of the disc.
 3. The printing machine as claimed in claim 2 in which the means for guiding said at least one support bracket during rotation of the disc, includes a slide arm, said slide arm having pivotal movement on the disc shaft due to rotation of the crank-pin, the crank-pin being movable within the interior of the arm, the slide arm being positioned to guide said at least one support bracket so that the one point of the flat face of the bracket, the axis of the crank-pin and the disc shaft are maintained in permanently aligned relation.
 4. The printing machine as claimed in claim 2 including a second support bracket similar to said at least one support bracket and caused to follow the same path as said at least one support bracket, said second support bracket being angularly displaced by one pitch of trajectory and in advance of said at least one support bracket, and an inking pad carried by the flat face of the second support bracket, with the inking pad following the same path as the sheet carried by the flat face of said at least one support bracket.
 5. The printing machine as claimed in claim 4 including a hinge connecting said at least one support bracket and second support bracket together, the hinge being parallel to the disc shaft and located at a point defining the apex of an isosceles triangle, the base of which is defined by the variable distance of the two crank-pins carrying said support brackets.
 6. The printing machine as claimed in claim 4 including means operable, starting from the rest position, to return said at least one support bracket and second support bracket precisely to the same position at the end of one complete cycle, said returning means comprising an elastically restorable movable locking bolt, said disc having a hub provided with a notch having an angular position corresponding to the rest position of the disc, the bolt being cooperable with the notch, and the movable locking bolt being provided with means initiating the operation and an end of cycle signal.
 7. The printing machine as claimed in claim 4 including means operable, in a rest position of said at least one support bracket, to eject a printed ticket and position an unprinted ticket, said means comprising a first device consisting of a driving roller and a free counter roller for transferring and holding a continuous strip of paper, a second device consisting of a driving roller and a free counter roller for transferring and holding in a standby position a section of the strip, cutting means located between the first and second devices for detaching the strip section held in the standby position, and third and fourth driving rollers associated with third and fourth free rollers carried by said at least one support bracket to drive concurrently the printed ticket for its ejection and unprinted ticket for its positioning.
 8. The printing machine as claimed in claim 7 in which the cutting means includes a guillotine having movable and fixed blades, resilient means urging the movable blade toward the fixed blade, and a cam rigidly fixed to the disc and operably related to the movable blade moving the movable blade away from the fixed blade.
 9. The printing machine as caimed in claim 4 including a stationary cover for the inking pad in the rest position to protect the pad from contamination.
 10. The printing machine as claimed in claim 9 including an auxiliary pad in the stationary cover, resilient means biasing the auxiliary pad into contact with the inking pad, an ink reservoir, and a wick immersed in the ink reservoir and leading to the auxiliary pad to maintain the auxiliary pad impregnated with ink for transfer to the inking pad. 